Free Republic

When Edward Snowden decided he wanted to release details about the NSA's intelligence operations to the public, he reached out to Laura Poitras, a 49-year-old film maker and political activist opposed to the war on terror. As the Washington Post noted on Monday, Poitras had "the odd distinction of sharing a byline in The Washington Post and in London’s Guardian newspaper last week on two blockbuster stories." snip But perhaps it isn't such a mystery why the U.S. government might want to question Poitras if you simply crack open John R. Bruning's 2006 book, The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd...

The Kansas man who helped draft Fremont's contentious immigration ordinance and several similar ones around the country has endorsed Shane Osborn for Nebraska's open U.S. Senate seat. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach issued the endorsement for Osborn Thursday, saying it's "absolutely essential that we have U.S. senators who will vote against amnesty for illegal aliens."

Six Republican candidates are seeking support for their run for Nebraska governor, but two hopefuls are seeing negative words used against them With the primary just a month away, there has been a war of words with Pete Ricketts and Jon Bruning on television screens. “Fact is Ricketts supported amnesty for people here illegally, even said so 17 times,” an advertisement says. “I've never been for amnesty, never will be for amnesty,” Ricketts said. “Bruning claims he wants lower taxes, but he supported a higher sales tax,” another advertisement says.

As Republicans sought to interpret Deb Fischer’s upset victory in Tuesday’s Nebraska Senate primary and what it portends for the 2012 elections, Sen. Mike Johanns (R) told Roll Call that the third-party groups who spent heavily to boost Don Stenberg are responsible for his last-place finish. Johanns, a former Nebraska governor, said the Club for Growth’s television ad campaign that targeted frontrunner Jon Bruning, the state attorney general, was “tone deaf” and left Nebraska GOP primary voters with an overwhelmingly negative impression of Stenberg, the state treasurer. Johanns referred to Stenberg as a “true blue conservative” who has a solid...

OMAHA, Neb. - The Associated Press has projected Deb Fischer as the winner of the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. Most of the evening, Jon Bruning maintained a lead over Fischer; however, during the 9 p.m. hour, the lead switched in favor of Fischer. Just under 6,000 votes separated the top two candidates when the Associated Press called the race.

The Senate Republican primary in Nebraska has turned into a proxy war between conservatives and establishment Republicans that could complicate efforts to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leading voice for Tea Party conservatives in Washington, has made an aggressive bid to defeat Jon Bruning, the front-runner in the primary, because of lingering doubts about his commitment to conservative principles. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Some Republicans question whether DeMint’s strenuous intervention will do anything more than alienate a likely future colleague. “There’s no question he’s the front-runner,” said David Kramer, a former Nebraska Republican Party chairman who...

Democrats hoped to give themselves a shot at holding onto a U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska by talking retired Senator Bob Kerrey into running, but the first Rasmussen Reports survey of the race finds Kerrey trailing all three of his leading Republican opponents. A new telephone survey of Likely Nebraska Voters finds state Attorney General Jon Bruning earning 55% support to Kerrey's 33%. Four percent (4%) like another candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) remain undecided.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) would start his 2012 reelection race in a weak position if Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning wins the primary, according to a new poll. The survey by Republican firm Magellan Strategies put Nelson 6 points behind Bruning in a general election. But pitted against Don Stenberg, another Republican in the race, Nelson is in a statistical tie. He bests Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) by 6 points. Another cause for concern for Nelson, who has not yet announced whether he will seek reelection, is his 36 percent approval rating, which dwarfs the 51 percent who...

Now, though, there are signs that Bruning’s coronation is on hold — big time. Nebraska political observers cite an abrasive personal style that has rubbed many Republicans the wrong way, and Bruning has suffered from a series of unhelpful headlines and gaffes on the campaign trail. Bruning has compared welfare recipients to scavenging raccoons, been criticized for buying property with business executives whose case he intervened in as attorney general, and stood by embattled former Warren Buffett heir apparent David Sokol, even as Sokol resigned from his job earlier this year amid a scandal involving his personal investments. “It’s been...

Betting on the Wrong Horse to Beat the Old Gray Nag In the pivotal race for Nebraska’s seat in the U.S. Senate, the Tea Party Express bet the store on Jon Bruning, and he responded as if the TPE “endorsement” closed the deal for all TEA Party groups in Nebraska. Wrong. Tea Party Express operatives believe they represent our voice—they do not. TPE has no affiliation in this state. They may have hubris to speak for us, but theirs is a losing strategy. We reject both the tactics and the choice. The TEA Party Express is the fifth wheel on...

In his younger days, before he was Nebraska’s Attorney General, Jon Bruning was nicknamed “Wrong Way Jon” after a disastrous move in a basketball game. It is a moniker that’s grown to apply to more than Bruning’s skills on the court. It also reflects a drastic change in his political beliefs from his college years. That’s right, Jon Bruning used to be a liberal. If you only know the Jon Bruning of 2010, we’d like to introduce you to the Jon Bruning of 1992 -- an eager young law student with his own column in the Daily Nebraskan. Bruning used...

Gov. Dave Heineman today said he's turning down a chance to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012. That race would have pitted him against incumbent Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., setting up a clash of two Nebraska political giants. Heineman said he already had the "best job in America" and didn't want to live in Washington. Republicans, he told a press conference this afternoon, have plenty of strong candidates to challenge Nelson, whom he said had "embarrassed" the state by providing the deciding vote for the federal health-care reforms. Attorney General Jon Bruning and Don Stenberg, who was elected state...

June 28, 2007 - For the past few months, Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, has flirted with the idea of running for president as an antiwar Republican. Now, however, that platform is threatening Hagel’s standing within his own state and party. In a race that has received scant national attention, Jon Bruning, Nebraska’s 38-year-old Republican attorney general, is challenging Hagel’s bid for re-election to the Senate--by attacking him from the right. Bruning charges that Hagel’s stance on Iraq, as well as his criticism of the president and members of his cabinet (see: Alberto Gonzales), put the incumbent out of...

It’s not as if we haven’t tried this one on for size before. A GOP incumbent senator convinces himself he’s landed gentry, rather than a public servant. He disses his constituents and could care less what he at one time proposed a conservative should stand for. He then gets challenged in a senatorial primary and thanks to generous support from the NRSC, holds on by the skin of his teeth and runs in the general election. This scenario has played out twice in recent election cycles. In 2004, Arlen Specter wore out his welcome with a baronial arrogance that made...

The attorney general of Nebraska, Jon Bruning, let us know that tomorrow he will announce he will challenge Senator Hagel in the Republican primary which is in May of 2008. A poll conducted for Mr. Bruning shows him leading Mr. Hagel among likely primary voters by 9 percentage points. Mr. Bruning assails Mr. Hagel for being, "The Republican that talks like a Democrat," pointing to a timeline for withdraw from Iraq... "He's become arrogant and out of touch," Mr. Bruning said. "His constituent services are very poor."

Jon Bruning, a Republican who serves as Nebraska’s attorney general, is waiting no longer for incumbent Senate Republican Chuck Hagel to make up his mind about 2008. Bruning announced Thursday that he is seeking the GOP nomination for the seat presently held by Hagel, a prominent Republican opponent of President Bush’s Iraq war policies. Hagel, nationally known as a Republican dissident, has created an air of mystery about what path he will take next year. Though he may well decide to pursue a third Senate term, he has left open the possibility of running for president — perhaps as an...

Hagel, Bruning angling for right BY ROBYNN TYSVER WORLD-HERALD BUREAU LINCOLN - If Jon Bruning and Chuck Hagel tangle in a GOP primary fight next spring, both may have trouble with the right flank of the Nebraska Republican Party. Party loyalty - a virtue prized by staunch Republicans - poses trouble for both. Hagel has angered many Republicans in Nebraska for his unabashed criticism of President Bush and the Iraq war. That anger rose substantially with Hagel's recent comments that impeachment of the president was an "option," even though he quickly clarified that it isn't an option he supports. "I...

Attorney General Jon Bruning says a poll he paid for showed him leading U.S Senator Chuck Hagel by nine percentage points, 47 percent to 38 percent, in a survey of 404 Republicans who said they were likely to vote in the 2008 GOP primary.